CIO Contract Job Trends

Chief Information Officer (CIO)
UK

The median Chief Information Officer (CIO) daily rate in the UK is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 31 July 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 671 548 569
Rank change year-on-year -123 +21 +94
Contract jobs requiring a CIO 4 4 5
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.008% 0.012% 0.013%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.008% 0.013% 0.014%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 3 2
10th Percentile - £330 £924
25th Percentile £525 £525 £1,072
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £900 £1,363
Median % change year-on-year -38.89% -33.94% -
75th Percentile £575 £1,013 £1,672
90th Percentile - £1,050 £1,831
UK excluding London median daily rate - £1,050 £850
% change year-on-year - +23.53% -

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 49,168 30,000 36,945
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.60% 91.47% 92.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,645 19,092 23,906
10th Percentile £331 £284 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.02%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,387 1,467 2,179
10th Percentile £15.37 £13.72 £14.05
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £19.05
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -40.82% -1.16%
75th Percentile £67.86 £55.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -41.51% +8.72%

CIO
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'CIO' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

CIO job vacancy trend in the UK

CIO
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for CIO job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for CIO job vacancies in the UK

CIO
Top 5 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing CIO within the UK over the 6 months to 31 July 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -124 3 £550 -38.89% 8
London -65 2 £550 +175.00% 3
Work from Home -48 1 - - 2
UK excluding London -83 1 - - 5
Scotland - 1 - -

CIO Skill Set
Top 23 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 31 July 2026, CIO contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring CIO in the job title.

1 1 (25.00%) BCP
1 1 (25.00%) Capacity Planning
1 1 (25.00%) Data Centre Operations
1 1 (25.00%) Dependency Management
1 1 (25.00%) DV Cleared
1 1 (25.00%) IT Strategy
1 1 (25.00%) ITSM
1 1 (25.00%) Microsoft
1 1 (25.00%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (25.00%) Network Security
1 1 (25.00%) Proactive Management
1 1 (25.00%) Process Improvement
1 1 (25.00%) Project Management
1 1 (25.00%) Risk Management
1 1 (25.00%) Roadmaps
1 1 (25.00%) SC Cleared
1 1 (25.00%) Security Cleared
1 1 (25.00%) Security Hardening
1 1 (25.00%) Service Delivery
1 1 (25.00%) Service Management
1 1 (25.00%) Stakeholder Management
1 1 (25.00%) Technology Strategy
1 1 (25.00%) Technology Transformation

CIO Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Applications
1 1 (25.00%) Microsoft Office
Communications & Networking
1 1 (25.00%) Network Security
General
1 1 (25.00%) Public Sector
Miscellaneous
1 1 (25.00%) Data Centre
1 1 (25.00%) Onboarding
1 1 (25.00%) Security Posture
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (25.00%) BCP
1 1 (25.00%) Capacity Planning
1 1 (25.00%) Data Centre Operations
1 1 (25.00%) Dependency Management
1 1 (25.00%) IT Strategy
1 1 (25.00%) ITSM
1 1 (25.00%) Proactive Management
1 1 (25.00%) Process Improvement
1 1 (25.00%) Project Management
1 1 (25.00%) Risk Management
1 1 (25.00%) Roadmaps
1 1 (25.00%) Security Hardening
1 1 (25.00%) Service Delivery
1 1 (25.00%) Service Management
1 1 (25.00%) Stakeholder Management
1 1 (25.00%) Technology Strategy
1 1 (25.00%) Technology Transformation
Qualifications
1 1 (25.00%) DV Cleared
1 1 (25.00%) SC Cleared
1 1 (25.00%) Security Cleared
Vendors
1 1 (25.00%) Microsoft